


sirens wailing by

by clairelutra (exosolarmoon), sharpshooting



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Gen, allura is a tired and awkward space regent who does not know how to mom, allura is not a space mom, and who does not try to mom, she knows her limits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-11
Updated: 2018-01-11
Packaged: 2019-03-03 13:06:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13341864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exosolarmoon/pseuds/clairelutra, https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharpshooting/pseuds/sharpshooting
Summary: Allura, on duty, children, and the duty of children.





	sirens wailing by

**Author's Note:**

> citizen-of-the-fandom asked:  
> Shallura, "parenthood" (which could, of course, be about a biological child or their four mischievous kittens)
> 
> (aaaaadmittedly, this came out as little more deconstructive/negative than the prompter probably wanted it, but i'm a little frustrated with the 'space mom' trope for allura. she's so young, and doesn't seem to actually _mom_ anyone. she isn't a protector or an emotional support or a source of guidance in anything except defeating zarkon. she's a teenager thrust into an adult's role waaay too young, and is _probably_ just struggling to keep her head above water, as bad as the show's writing is at showing it.)

Allura was not a mother. She was never _meant_ to be a mother. That the rise of the coalition and her position in it required an heir was a fact that she’d avoided thinking about for years before finally conceding to necessity.

Technically, as long as the child was one of her inner circle, it would be accepted as an heir by Altean law, but the only ones in it capable of childbearing were herself and Pidge. 

She couldn’t ask Pidge—the green paladin was growing fast, but still much more of a child than a woman—which just left… Allura, mothering capacity or no.

She asked Shiro to be the father for a few reasons; if any of their circle would take well to a child, it would be him; he was a good choice for publicity reasons (the hero and the princess would be a love story right out of the books); after all these years of pain and suffering and endurance, she thought… she thought he might like to have a child.

So that was why she asked Shiro, and, well…

She was right on every account, from her own lack of motherhood to Shiro’s near-overabundance of it.

It ached a little, a bittersweet knot in her heart, that the child barely knew he was hers. He called her “Allura” when he saw her in the halls, gave her shy waves from behind furniture, reported his daily activities when Shiro asked him to. It was what she’d wanted, but still…

He was a wild thing, a little _wizicrim_ of energy and agility. He clambered on couches and into laps, getting in trouble as often as he demanded to know what her paladins were up to. They always told him, taking the time to explain the world to him, something Allura was forever grateful for.

“Hey, man,” she heard Shiro greet his spawn outside her office. “Got something there?”

“F’r ‘Llura!”

“That’s amazing,” Shiro rumbled, gentle and sure. “Are you going to go in and give it to her?”

“Yee-ah!”

Allura waved away the holoscreens in front of her as she heard steps patter into the room, and then turned to face her little guest.

The child (her son) had a flower. 

Allura swallowed down the lump in her throat and said, “That’s a very pretty flower you have.”

The child beamed. “Here. Pidge said… you like flowers.”

The words were enunciated clearly, thought and care put into each syllable, and Allura found herself blinking back tears. It wasn’t often that these emotions got to her.

She dropped to her knees half-intentionally, and brought her own hands up to cup the plant. “I do. Thank you.”

The child was _delighted_. 

She wasn’t much one for physical affection, and she wasn’t familiar enough to him to be an acceptable person to hug, but she couldn’t just watch him beam like that and do _nothing_.

She finally decided on a hair ruffle, rubbing her fingers through his short-cropped pale silver hair.

He stood a few seconds of the affection, giggling, and then ducked out from under her hand to bolt back to Shiro, who scooped him up as natural and easy as breathing.

Over their son’s head, Shiro shot her a reassuring smile, and Allura sagged in relief. She hadn’t screwed it up. _Thank goodness_.

“She ‘iked it!”

“I knew she would, little man. You have good taste.”

If she wasn’t meant to be a mother, then at least her son was in good hands.


End file.
